Skin Essences: Active Ingredients, Benefits

If you are a lover of Korean beauty trends, you may already know about a popular skin care product called essence. This is a liquid form, contains many good ingredients for the skin and is an important part of the daily skin care routine of millions of people around the world.

Essences are water-based skin care products that contain high levels of active ingredients to help hydrate, protect, and promote overall skin health. After using cleanser, toner to clean and balance the skin, the essence is applied to the skin, helping to restore moisture to skin cells. When used before serums and moisturizers, the essence helps the skin absorb the active ingredients better.
Skin care essence was first introduced to the skin care market in 1896 by Shiseido - a world famous skin care brand. Since then, skin care companies around the world have expanded the production of this serum. Many companies have created their own essences to target specific therapeutic targets such as acne, aging, dry skin.
MORE: Order of using skin care products

Here are some of the more common ingredients found in skin care essence products:
Water : Acts as the base ingredient for the serum and helps moisturize the skin; Glycerin or Glycol: These help keep the skin moist; Hyaluronic Acid: Helps retain moisture and plump the skin; Plant Extracts: Provides antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits; Yeast fermentation by-products: There are many benefits such as the ability to protect the skin against the effects of ultraviolet rays; Vitamins, minerals and lipids: Contribute to the protection and nourishment of skin cells.

Some of the benefits of using essences are as follows:
Helps the skin to better absorb additional products such as serums or moisturizers; Used to improve the skin care effect of other products by prepping, allowing the skin to absorb the essence more easily; Provide moisture to the skin; Contains high levels of active ingredients: Helps rehydrate skin cells, protect skin barrier, promote skin health, rebalance pH, soften and smooth skin epidermis. Depending on the other active ingredients present in the serum, they may have additional benefits such as anti-aging or anti-acne properties.

Some toners and serums contain ingredients that many people find uncomfortable to use, such as retinols or salicylic acid. Skin care essences often contain natural ingredients, so they rarely cause side effects to the skin. Therefore, essence is considered one of the safest skin care products for all skin types.
However, users also need to pay attention to which skin care ingredients their skin is sensitive to. Before buying skin care essence, users should carefully consider the composition of the product, if there are ingredients that cause skin irritation, they should choose another type.

Essences in form are quite similar to toners, but they perform two separate functions in skin care. Toner is usually an alcohol-based skin care product. They are used after facial cleanser for deeper skin cleansing. A good toner also helps to tighten pores and balance skin tone, making skin smoother. The essence has the uses mentioned above.
Toner works best for people with oily skin, acne skin. The essence is suitable and beneficial for all skin types. Accordingly, users should note that they should use the essence after using the toner to rehydrate and rebalance the skin's moisture.

While serums and essences both contain high levels of active ingredients, they have different roles in a comprehensive skin care routine. Specifically, usually the viscosity of the serum is higher than that of the essence, which can penetrate deeper into the skin. The main role of serums is not to hydrate but to help address specific skin problems like dullness or aging. In addition, serum is often used before moisturizer to completely lock moisture into the skin. The essence has ingredients and benefits mentioned above.
Users should use essence before applying serum to help the skin absorb the serum easily and put it deeper into the skin.

The essence should be applied to the skin after cleansing and toner, and before applying serums and moisturizers. If you want to incorporate essence into your skin care routine, you should follow these steps:
Step 1: Use a mild cleanser to clean your skin; Step 2: Use a cotton pad or fingertips to apply toner to the skin; Step 3: Spray 3-5 times essence on hands, pat lightly to absorb into skin. Pay attention not to rub on the skin, just pat it gently; Step 4: Use serum, apply moisturizer for best results. When using products in the above order, it helps the skin to absorb each product separately. Adding a skin essence to your skin care routine will promote better absorption of these active ingredients by the skin.
Skin essence is one of the best products to restore moisture, care and protect the skin. When used as a regular skin care routine, the serum helps maintain a softer, more hydrated and healthier skin.

Reference source: healthline.com